Joab was a faithful servant leader in the kingdom that God had given to David. Even when he could have gained credit for his might in battle, he would defer to his king. This is both a sign of humility and an acknowledgement of identity. Joab loved his leader (David) and desired to see him gain notoriety with the people. Joab also had a clear understanding of who he was or he would have been looking for any opportunity to ‘define himself’ through claiming victories like this on over Rabbah. We can learn from this. Will we be content in the place God puts us? Are we secure enough in our identity in Christ to allow someone else to be esteemed by our good work?

Yield

Lord, I will identity myself by what You say about me in Your Word so I don’t have to seek out the words of others.

Leadership can go to our heads if we do not have the Mind of Christ. Our misleading enemy seeks to deceive us into thinking it’s all about us. Our Lord seeks to see our minds ‘morphed’ so that we can take the attitude of Christ which was to be humble. What style does your leadership take?